Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Utah Invitational (WGS)
Wales Granstrom Wins GS, Buffs Lead At Utah Invite
January 09, 2015 | Skiing
PARK CITY, Utah—Senior Brooke Wales Granstrom won her first collegiate race and four Buffs finished in the top 10 as the University of Colorado ski team leads the Utah Invitational after the women's giant slalom race, held here Thursday at Park City Mountain Resort.
In the first race that counts toward team scoring this season, the Buffs were the only team to have more than two skiers in the top 10 and thus won the race and lead the invitational with 88 points. Host Utah is second with 84 points while Denver sits third with 82 points. New Mexico is fourth with 74 points while Westminster College rounds out the top five with 45 points.
“It was a very good day, better than anticipated,” CU coach Richard Rokos said. “It was perfect college skiing. I'm hoping this will be how it will happen this year, the girls confirmed their strength and this isn't our better event. They took full advantage of our training and skied consistently. Brooke took advantage of her seed and never let it go.”
Wales Granstrom was the first down the hill in bib No. 1 and she had the fastest first run by a half-second and despite running 30th in the second run after the flip, she still had the third-fastest second run to come away with the victory. In the end, she nearly maintained the half second lead as her winning time of 2:30.18 was 45-hundredths of a second ahead of the runner-up.
“The snow was awesome today, I got on the first pitch on the first run and got excited, I thought I could rip the course,” Wales Granstrom said. “The second run was kind of the same. I tried to stay loose and relaxed most of the day, I tried having fun with it. My teammates and husband (Colby Granstrom) helped me out a lot.”
While this is her first ran win in college, it's not her first time near the top of the standings as this is her eighth podium appearance in college, seven in GS action. She has finished as the runner-up in GS races six times previously. It was also the first win in GS for the Buffs since senior Shane McLean won the UAA Invitational GS race in 2012 as a freshman.
The other Buffs who secured top 10 finishes were McLean, who finished seventh in a time of 2:32.40 while juniors Jessica Honkonen (eighth, 2:33.04) and Thea Grosvold (ninth, 2:33.76) gave the Buffs two more top 10 finishers than any other team.
“They didn't take any chances,” Rokos said of McLean, Honkonen and Grosvold. “It's good to see that those girls don't need to push it to the absolute extreme to finish well and in the top 10. They could crank it a little more and take a few more chances, but it's a delicate balance, in college skiing you have to be fast but you also have to finish.”
This is also the third time this quartet of skiers has all finished in the top 10, first doing so two years ago in a GS race here at the Utah Invitational, although that meet was held on a different ski run. They also accomplished the feat in a slalom race last year at the Montana State Invitational.
Freshman Dani Brownell-Patty also had a great day, as she has not had the benefit of skiing in college before, she started the race in 39th position and moved 20 spots up, finishing 19th in a time of 2:34.94. She had moved into the top 20 after the first run and she maintained that placement on her second run.
“Dani will work her way up (the seeding),” Rokos said. “She ended up very respectable from her starting position. Technically, she's good enough to do it, the first step for her is just to improve her seed and then she can take better advantage of it.”
Sophomore Katie Hostetler also reached her goal of getting into the top 30 after the first run to get into the flip for the second run. After the first run, the top 30 skiers are flipped for the starting order in the second run. So, after Wales Granstrom won the first run, she started 30th on the second. Similarly, Hostetler, after finishing 29th on the first run, started second for the second run. She moved up to finish 24th with a time of 2:36.87. Junior Clare Wise finished in 36th place in a time of 2:35.13.
“It was good for Katie to get in the flip,” Rokos said. “For her, that was the goal. She made a pretty big mistake on the second run and could have been in the top 20, but it's good to see she can break into that group and take advantage of it.”
Next up at the Utah Invitational will be the men's giant slalom races which will begin with the first run at 9:30 a.m. Friday. Both genders will compete in slalom on Sunday, the same day the Nordic races begin in nearby Midway, Utah. The Nordic events will then conclude the first meet of the season on Monday.
The Buffs host the second meet of the season, the Spencer Nelson Memorial Invitational, in Steamboat Springs (Nordic) and Eldora (alpine) January 23-27.
Team Scores—1. Colorado 88, 2. Utah 84; 3. Denver 82; 4. New Mexico 76; 5. Westminster 45; 6. Montana State 42; 7. Alaska Anchorage 39; 8. Colorado Mountain College 17.
Women's Giant Slalom (40 Collegiate Finishers)—1. Brooke Wales Granstrom, CU, 2:30.18; 2. Chloe Fausa, UU, 2:30.63; 3. Kristine Haugen, DU, 2:30.68; 4. Mateja Robnik, UNM, 2:30.79; 5. Monica Hubner, DU, 2:31.03; 6. Kristiina Rove, UU, 2:31.38; 7. Shane McLean, CU, 2:32.40; 8. Jessica Honkonen, CU, 2:33.04; 9. Thea Grosvold, CU, 2:33.76; 10. Sydney Staples, UNM, 2:33.78. Other CU Finishers: 19. Dani Brownell-Patty, 2:34.94; 24. Katie Hostetler, 2:36.87; 36. Clare Wise, 2:43.97.
